The novel ‘The Kite Runner’ is told non-chronologically to
make the significant scenes such as the rape scene more tragic to the reader.
This structure to a novel makes it possible to contrast between the settings in
the novel from old Afghanistan
to America then
to new Afghanistan.
The setting in the Kite Runner at first makes it clear how foreign America
is to Afghanistan
and Afghanistan
is to America.
However, as the novel progresses, the relationship between the two settings
improves even though Afghanistan
becomes worse off with the Taliban in control. Yet, it is clear from Baba and
Amir that they see America
a more attractive place to live in than Afghanistan
from the way they flea to America
when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.
Throughout the novel, Baba is seen as a powerful man from the way he had control
and authority in Afghanistan.
This makes the reader value his opinion to move away from Afghanistan:
to save his and his son’s life. Either way, the setting the Kite Runner is what
creates the corruption and is important in being a simile to character’s lives
and relationships.

Remember to never copy any material on the internet such as this when writing your own essay.

The novel starts off in Afghanistan
in the 1970s where Amir is still a child. Old Afghanistan
contained many leitmotifs to the novel such as the pomegranate tree. The tree
which Amir used to read stories to Hassan has significance from the way it was
the first time really where Amir use to use his intellectual superiority over
Hassan and mock Hassan for not being able to read. As the novel progresses, the
way Amir mocks Hassan under the pomegranate tree increases and increases up to
the point where he throws pomegranates at him. As much as it represented the
relationship Amir and Hassan use to have, it also represented the uneven
friendship Amir and Hassan had. The other leitmotif was the stories that come
up throughout the time in Old Afghanistan. As well as reminding the reading
that ‘The Kite Runner’ is just a story, is also reflects the unhappiness that
is going to happen further on into the play. By giving us an early hint from
stories that have tinges or sadness in them helps prepare the reader for the
unexpected.

Old Afghanistan
was a place of innocence where Amir and Baba could live in peace. Amir
described how much he enjoyed winter in Kabul,
‘winter was every kid’s favourite season’. Winter was a time where children
such as Amir and Hassan could have fun which again shows how innocent Afghanistan
was in the 1970s: before any invasions happened. Old Afghanistan
helps use see the naivety of children such as Amir back in the 1970s, ‘I love
winter time in Kabul. I loved it
for the… for the… for the…’ The use of a list is a form of persuasive
technique. Here, Amir is trying to persuade us that Kabul
is a place of happiness which highlights how Amir is biased towards Kabul.
As well as Kabul being all Amir
said, there was a lot of corruption still in Kabul
which Amir blanks out epitomising the sense of ignorance. Yet, Amir always had
doubts about his relationship with his father, ‘Baba and I lived in the same
house but in different spheres of existence.Kites were the one paper-thin slice of
intersection between those spheres’. This link between the setting and
Amir and Baba makes it clear that it doesn’t matter where Amir and Baba are:
the only thing keeping them together is an activity that can happen anywhere.
This emphasises the decision Amir has to make at the rape scene whether to help
Hassan or not.

Old Afghanistan
is followed then by the next setting being America.
Amir uses the setting of America
to hide away his past life in Afghanistan,
‘For me, America
was a place to bury memories’. It was an escape: a new beginning. This makes it
clear that Amir saw running away from his mistakes fine when from Baba’s
perspective, you are meant to stand up to them and face them just like he did
for the women who nearly got raped by the soldier. The American part of the
novel is written for the American audience from the way it is an immigration
story. This helps the American audience relate to Amir especially how many
Americans have ancestors that immigrated from their troubles to America
to achieve the ‘American Dream’. The ‘American Dream’ relates very much to Amir
and Baba who travelled to America
with nothing, hoping to make a life over there. This creates juxtaposition
between Amir and Baba where in Afghanistan,
Baba was successful and Amir was living from his success where in America,
Amir is now successful writing and selling books while Baba works on a stool in
a market. The only thing Baba has now is his dignity which is still enough to
gain the respect of the Afghanistan
population in America.
As much as America made Baba excited for a fresh start and to do something
knew, ‘Baba loved the idea of America’, America contrasts against Old
Afghanistan in different ways, ‘what kind of country is this?’ clearly telling
the reader that America is different and hard to adapt to. With Baba a man of
dignity, for America
to be a place where ‘no-one trusts anybody’ is a reason Baba will find it hard
to adapt to. However, with Amir’s relationship being untrustworthy with Hassan
in Old Afghanistan, he will be able to adapt more easily to this new lifestyle.
He could lie to Hassan but Hassan would know he’s lying: Amir thought he knew. This
friendship forced Amir to trust nobody, just like Americans.

New Afghanistan
appears as a setting where Amir is on a mission to seek Hassan’s forgiveness by
saving his son, Sohrab. Since Old Afghanistan, a lot has changed with the Soviet
Union invasion and Taliban dominance, ‘Baba used to take me to the
Khyber restaurant…I saw a dead body by the restaurant’. There’s now more
aggression than hospitality in Kabul
which will shock the reader. The memories Amir kept close to him throughout his
childhood are now being scarred by war and corruption. This will give him more
determination to save Sohrab from this warfare setting. It goes on where he
sees a ‘Bullet-riddled sign’. This contrasts to his childhood again where Amir
had a good upbringing. However, for the children to beg at the orphanage makes
the reader fear the worst for Sohrab. The level of description for new Afghanistan
makes it clear Hosseini wants to create two vivid settings for one place like a
before and after. This strengthens the viewpoint that Afghanistan
has turn into an inhabitable place to live: Hassan’s death is the proof along
with the detailed description of the surrounding areas of Kabul,
‘Rubble and beggars everywhere…The beggars were most the children now’. Amir
relates between the two contrasting settings of Afghanistan
when he sees his sentimental home, ‘The front steps had crumbled like so much
else in Kabul’. Hosseini is
emphasising the sentimentality Kabul
had for Amir by comparing to the steps of his previous home. Kabul
is not a home for Amir anymore. It is warfare.

Ultimately, the way Hosseini
creates a vivid sense of place by relating the characters very much to the
setting they are in. It could be said that the setting reflects some of the
characters too. Baba’s power and pride can be seen in the old Afghanistan
where there was peace and happiness. The conflict and corruption between Amir
and Hassan is easily compared to the racism of Hazaras and Pashtun. In America,
Amir relates to the ‘American Dream’ of starting fresh. However, it seems as if
Baba stays locked to the setting of old Afghanistan,
slowly dying just like old Afghanistan
was by the Russians. In new Afghanistan,
Assef’s corrupted and powerful mind is at the heart of the Taliban: the
unfortunate future for new Afghanistan.
The link between characters and setting produces a strong mood and atmosphere
from the way the characters are just like the settings they are in. When
Hosseini starts mixing up the characters with setting (i.e. place dying Baba in
America), it creates
confusion for the reader seeing that the reader would hope Baba would adapt to
the stereotypical way of American life. The settings are also extremely
important in developing leitmotifs throughout the novel. Amir liked America
because he could erase his memory of the past he regrets doing. Having
leitmotifs in the novel reminds him that these memories can never be forgotten
and need to be corrected (which links with why Amir saved Sohrab). If there
were no leitmotifs in the novel, it would have been much easier for Amir to get
over what he had done wrong back when Hassan got raped. Furthermore, the
setting makes it possible for Hosseini to portray a message across to the
reader. You can make right from wrong: this is clearly displayed in Amir’s case.
As corrupted new Afghanistan
has become, he still finds the desire to make right from what he had done wrong
all those years ago.

About Will Green

A student in England studying Automotive Engineering with Motorsport, Will created Ask Will Online back in 2010 to help students revise and bloggers make money. You can follow AskWillOnline via @AskWillOnline.

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About Will Green

At first, I was using Ask Will Online to help myself revise for school exams. I then started to find areas in blogging that were tricky to overcome so I started making articles on generally blogging help. Now, Ask Will Online has differentiated into many sub categories so that even more people can now take use of my website.